Nicholas Thompson carded a second consecutive 65 to push into a tie for the lead after the third round of the Sanderson Farms Championship at Annandale Golf Club on Saturday, setting up a potential rare family double.
The 30-year-old’s seven-under left him tied with in-form Daniel Summerhays and two shots clear of the chasing pack, while his teenage sister Lexi was tied third and three shots off the lead after three rounds at the LPGA Tour’s Marathon Classic.
Only two brother-sister combinations have ever won on the elite tours and none have managed the feat in the same week.
The Thompsons are right in the hunt to become the third duo, though, after Bill Kratzert and his sister Cathy Gerring, and Jackie Gallagher-Smith and brother Jim Gallagher.
Thompson opened with a bogey, but reeled off eight birdies in his final 15 holes to move to 17-under for the tournament. Summerhays shot a solid 69 to join him at the top.
Americans crammed the top nine spots of the leaderboard with Chad Campbell (65), Cameron Beckman (65), Woody Austin (67) and Kyle Reifers (67) sharing third on 15-under.
Brendon Todd (66), Vaughn Taylor (68) and Bill Lunde (68) were a stroke further back at 14-under.
Thompson, who was on the PGA Tour previously in 2006 and from 2008 to 2010, returned this year as a graduate from the Web.com Tour, but has missed seven of his last 12 cuts and posted one top 10 finish back in January.
“I’ve been playing good [this week]. I got off to a little bit of a rough start with a three-putt, but after that it was pretty good,” Thompson told reporters.
“You know what, there is always a possibility [of a family double],” he added.
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